After undergoing an MRI earlier today, Clay Buchholz has been diagnosed with a left hamstring strain. He is not scheduled to start this week at Fenway Park, but there are no plans to place him on the disabled list. Buchholz suffered the injury running the bases in the top of the second inning during his start on Saturday in San Francisco.

Dustin Pedroia was examined by Red Sox Medical Director Dr. Thomas Gill who confirmed that he has a non-displaced fracture of the medial navicular bone in his left foot. Pedroia was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday after suffering the injury Friday night in San Francisco when he fouled a ball off his left foot in the top of the third inning. He is not expected to require surgery. The usual timetable for this injury is approximately six weeks to return to play.

Victor Martinez also underwent further examination which revealed a minimally displaced fracture on the tip of his left thumb. He is also not expected to require surgery. Martinez left yesterday’s game in San Francisco after the third inning due to the injury which was sustained after having two foul balls hit off his thumb while he was behind the plate. There will be no roster move today regarding Martinez. But sources told the Globe that the Red Sox will place him on the 15-day disabled list tomorrow. Gustavo Molina, who was not in the lineup for Triple-A Pawtucket tonight, is expected to be called up.

____________________I pledge and support the elimination of the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. http://www.r-word.org/

We'll know more today. He throws so hard I think he just self-destructed. Maybe he has a future as a knuckleballer.

From the Detroit Tigers website:

"Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya, who experienced a painful injury while pitching on Monday, will miss the remainder of the season because of a non-displaced fracture of the olecranon, a large bone in the elbow.

The club said that the injury to Zumaya's right elbow was diagnosed following X-Rays and an MRI earlier on Tuesday, and he was placed on the 15-day disabled list. He was not immediately available for comment, and the Tigers recalled right-hander Casey Fien to take his spot on the roster."

____________________We'd all like to vote for the best man, but he's never a candidate.

A little off topic, but I was reading something interesting about Tom Seaver and how he worked the hitters. He didn't pay attention to scouting reports, but approached all hitters the same throughout his whole career.

If he was behind in the count he threw slower breaking stuff....ahead and they got the gas. At the same time, he threw the low pitches slower and and high pitches fast. Lastly, he threw cheese on the inside and slower stuff away.

He said he was amazed the hitters (or scouts) never quite figured out this pattern and never had to make any adjustments to it. Thought that was interesting..

Popular former Tiger Kirk Gibson finally is going to be a major league manager.

The Diamondbacks announced late Thursday night they have fired second-year manager A.J. Hinch and replaced him, at least on an interim basis, with bench coach Gibson, who last year stayed on staff amid another managerial shakeup.

Gibson, 53, was hired by Bob Melvin before the 2007 season and remained with Arizona last spring, even after Melvin was canned and general manager Josh Byrnes surprisingly hired Hinch, who had never before coached in the majors.

Byrnes also was fired Thursday.

Team president Derrick Hall, speaking to the Associated Press, called Thursday's firings "a first and major step in the re-evaluation of our team."

The Red Sox currently have 10 players on the disabled list, including five since added in the last week alone...Mike Lowell (hip), Pedroia (foot), Martinez (thumb), Delcarmen (elbow), and Varitek (foot). In all, the Sox have had players miss a total of 424 games (and counting) this season while on the disabled list.

And with all that, it is pretty amazing that they are only 1.5 out of 1st in the east and have a .5 game lead in the wildcard standings. Only the spanks and Rangers have better records in all of baseball at the moment. Three games with the Orioles this weekend could be exactly what the doctor ordered (pun intended).

____________________I pledge and support the elimination of the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. http://www.r-word.org/

quote:Most of those injuries are recent. We are now entering the hottest psrt of the season when the bench becomes more important. When you have Bill Hall playing second, Kevin Cash catching and Eric Patterson playing lf, how good can your bench be?

Yeah, like I said, 5 of the 10 went on the DL in the last week alone. But they been without Beckett for a while now (and don't forget DiceK started the season on the DL) so the rotation has not been intact (luckily it sounds like Buchholz won't miss a start with his hammy injury), and the starting outfield coming out of spring training have all been in and out of the lineup (mostly out) and has played something like 5 games together (anyone remember Jacoby Ellsbury? He's played a grand total of 9 games). Biggest problem is the bullpen, Oki and Ramierez have been aweful, and now with Delcarmen down they need to make a few moves there. Will be interesting to see if they can hold it together for the next few weeks until some of these guys start coming back.

[Edited on 7/2/2010 by gondicar]

____________________I pledge and support the elimination of the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. http://www.r-word.org/

"This day in baseball"
In one of the greatest pitching duels in baseball history, Warren Spahn, 42, and Juan Marichal pitched 16 scoreless innings July 2, 1963 at Candlestick Park, with the Giants beating the Braves 1-0 on Willie Mays' HR.
In an era of closely monitored pitch counts, relievers being paraded in and out of games regardless of the score or situation -- the Twins used no less than eight pitchers in their 5-4 loss last night to Tampa, who used six pitchers of their own -- and injury-prone pitchers suceptible to any and all maladies, this was the real thing -- pitching at its peak, when baseball was a game. Indeed, Spahnie himself said it years later, in this 1999 interview:
"Baseball has (since) made non-athletes out of pitchers, unfortunately,” Spahn said in July of 1999. “Why would I want my son to be a pitcher … when you pitch once a week, they count the pitches and you don’t get to hit and you don’t get to run the bases.”

That must've been outrageous to have witnessed the later innings of this pitching duel!!

OK, old-fogie rant overwith
GO SOX
Maybe their triple-A players will help in the short-term -- guess they're gonna have to

Happy holiday weekend

[Edited on 7/2/2010 by Stephen]

____________________"I know y'all came to hear our songs, we like to play 'em for you but without Gregg here it's really hard for us to do. He sings & plays so much & does such a good job. He's really sick, 103* He might've come, but no one would let him." Duane

____________________I pledge and support the elimination of the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. http://www.r-word.org/

The June swoon hit the Giants again this year and has rolled into early July...They snapped a 7 game losing streak yesterday so hopefully they will turn it around. Still over 500 and just 6.5 games back...

____________________Believin' is alright just don't believe in the wrong thing....Sonny Boy Williamson

Oldest living Tiger Virgil 'Fire' Trucks, 93, still following game
Terry Foster / The Detroit News

This is the second of a weekly series catching up with former Tigers players.

Right-handed pitcher Virgil "Fire" Trucks is the oldest living Tiger. He turned 93 in April and with age comes a number of ailments, including a right arm he can no longer raise above his head.

"I guess that shoulder has thrown its last pitch," Trucks joked from his home 20 miles south of Birmingham, Ala.

Trucks got his nickname because of a blazing fastball. He also enjoyed a pretty good slider and in 1952 became the No-hit Kid because he threw two of them, including one at famed Yankee Stadium where Hall of Fame outfielder Mickey Mantle was one of his final outs.

He also threw four no-hitters in the minor leagues.

Today, Trucks is a talkative retiree who enjoys going to church services with his second wife of nine years, Elizabeth Ann, and enjoying grandchildren who live nearby. Trucks used to enjoy annual trips to Detroit for card signings. He still gets fan mail from Tiger fans who request copies of his book, "Bringing Heat," which chronicles his life. The book has sold 1,500 copies and is on its second printing.

"It is mostly an autobiography about me growing up and my career in baseball and my family," Trucks said. "It is not on the Internet or anything. I just get requests from people who remember me from Detroit."

Trucks is excited because his 9-year-old grandson, Daniel Briggs, is a young pitcher and catcher who shows promise.

"I think he is going to be pretty good," Trucks said. "He loves the game. And that's important. If you don't love the game, you are not going to be any good."

Nobody can accuse Trucks of not loving the game. He finished his career with a 177-135 record and 3.39 ERA. Trucks pitched for the Tigers from 1941-43, enlisted in the armed forces, pitched again from 1945-52 and returned to Detroit for one more season in 1956.

Trucks had only two losing seasons in 17 years. One of those was a memorable 5-19 season in 1952, during which he threw his two no-hitters.

His first came against the Washington Senators during a 1-0 victory in Detroit. Teammate Vic Wertz hit a two-out solo home run off pitcher Bob Porterfield to give the Tigers the victory. It was tense for most of the afternoon because Porterfield pitched seven innings of no-hit ball.

The no-hitter later that season against the Yankees wasn't expected.

"The coaches saw the way I was pitching in warm-ups and said, 'You had better have the bullpen ready,'&#8194;" Trucks said. "They didn't think I had anything, but when the game started, all I needed was my fastball. I had a good slider and a good change-up and you can win in the big leagues if you have three good pitches. That is what they are doing now. Some have 15 pitches but they can't throw them."

Trucks almost didn't get the no-hitter against the Yankees. Their shortstop, Phil Rizzuto, hit a ground ball to third baseman Johnny Pesky in the third inning. Pesky bobbled the ball slightly and threw late to first base. Official scorer John Drebinger first called it an error but changed it to a base hit after reporters in the press box pressured him. However, Drebinger questioned his decision and called down to the field in the seventh inning. Pesky told him the ball squirted away.

Drebinger changed the call back to an error in the seventh.

"You need your teammates to throw a no-hitter," Trucks said. "You don't do it by yourself."

Trucks doesn't travel much but he watches a lot of baseball. So far this season there have been four no-hitters, which doesn't include Armando Galarraga's perfect game against Cleveland, which was taken away by an umpire's blown call on what should have been the final out.

Trucks isn't surprised by all the no-hitters.

"The hitters don't know the strike zone," Trucks said. "They swing at pitches six to eight inches outside. It is easier to throw a no-hitter to people like that if you can throw it 90 miles per hour."

Trucks' most enjoyable no-hitter came in the Alabama-Florida League, where at age 19 he went 25-6 and led the league with a 1.25 ERA and struck out 417 hitters in 273 innings for the Andalusia (Ala.) Rams. He not only pitched a no-hitter against Evergreen but scored the winning run in the ninth after a single, sacrifice bunt and two wild pitches.

"That is something you never forget," Trucks said. "But I didn't celebrate too much after the game. I was 20 years old. There was nothing to celebrate. I just enjoyed the game."

After he retired from playing in 1958. Trucks coached for the Pirates, winning a World Series ring, and scouted for the Braves. He also worked in the Leeds (Ala.) Parks and Recreation Department.

quote:"This day in baseball"
In one of the greatest pitching duels in baseball history, Warren Spahn, 42, and Juan Marichal pitched 16 scoreless innings July 2, 1963 at Candlestick Park, with the Giants beating the Braves 1-0 on Willie Mays' HR.
In an era of closely monitored pitch counts, relievers being paraded in and out of games regardless of the score or situation -- the Twins used no less than eight pitchers in their 5-4 loss last night to Tampa, who used six pitchers of their own -- and injury-prone pitchers suceptible to any and all maladies, this was the real thing -- pitching at its peak, when baseball was a game. Indeed, Spahnie himself said it years later, in this 1999 interview:
"Baseball has (since) made non-athletes out of pitchers, unfortunately,” Spahn said in July of 1999. “Why would I want my son to be a pitcher … when you pitch once a week, they count the pitches and you don’t get to hit and you don’t get to run the bases.”

That must've been outrageous to have witnessed the later innings of this pitching duel!!

OK, old-fogie rant overwith
GO SOX
Maybe their triple-A players will help in the short-term -- guess they're gonna have to

Happy holiday weekend

[Edited on 7/2/2010 by Stephen]

I read an article on that game (? in SI) where Marichal talked about how the Giants wanted to pull him a few innings before the end, and he said you can;t take me out if they're leaving the old guy in the game

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